Tariffs imposed on UK and NATO allies amid Arctic security push
Connor Stringer And James Crisp
The reaction in the corridors of power in Moscow and Beijing will be one of undisguised glee. Donald Trump has once again turned to Europe, imposing sweeping tariffs on allies including the UK in his quest to buy Greenland.
The maverick US president insists he needs the island to counter Russia and China in the strategic Arctic region. He refused to rule out the possibility of military annexation.
Britain, Denmark, France, Germany and other NATO allies have sent troops to Greenland to appease Trump and perhaps embarrass him into easing the diplomatic crisis. This was intended to show that NATO was serious about Arctic security. Instead, it left the alliance at risk of collapse for the first time since its formation after World War II.
“These countries playing this very dangerous game have introduced a level of risk that is not defensible or sustainable,” Trump wrote on social media.
Was NATO’s most powerful member really accusing its allies of flexing their military might in what he claimed was the US’s backyard? Domain?
It was the perfect end-of-Christmas gift for Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, who are still clinging to their “limitless” alliance.
They have long argued that NATO is unreliable and divided. Now divisions are clearly showing, and its members face American tariffs for adhering to the values NATO was founded to protect.
Despite all the shock, this move is Trump’s textbook. It’s a negotiating tactic from his days as a New York real estate mogul. First, by applying pressure, he drags his opponent to the negotiation table and waits there for the agreement he wants.
In his previous life, Trump sued some of his business partners. Now it is hitting its allies with tariffs. Since returning to office last year, he has used tariffs as a negotiating tool to get other countries, including close ally Britain, to comply with his demands.
In April, Trump announced sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs that imposed a 10 percent base cap on all imports from all countries. Moreover, it imposed “reciprocal customs duties” ranging from 10 percent to 50 percent on the countries with which the USA had the largest trade deficit.
Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders have spent huge amounts of political capital trying to strike trade deals and avoid punitive tariffs. They are back to where they started, with less credibility and threats to raise tariffs to 25 percent by June.
For Starmer, this will be particularly painful. He was praised for securing lower tariffs from the EU through shrewd diplomacy. Most of these have now been erased due to miscalculations by him and other European leaders. They were playing by the old rules of diplomacy, Trump made his own rules.
The US is wasting its political goodwill as if it were going out of fashion. As for Europe, which has already been shamefully excluded from the Ukraine negotiations, further concessions will make it look even weaker.
This weakness, especially when it comes to security, lies behind the instinct to appease Trump. Europe cannot currently protect itself from Russia without the United States. Until he achieves this, his options are severely limited.
Could any country, except perhaps Denmark, be prepared to sacrifice NATO for Greenland?
As Winston Churchill once warned, “an appeaser is someone who feeds the crocodile, hoping that it will eat him last.”
Europe has now surely discovered that feeding Trump achieves little. Meanwhile, Russia and China watch with amusement as NATO reels from its own self-inflicted damage.
Telegraph, England
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